Coronavirus concerns sideline two Duke football players, including starting long snapper
Two Duke football players, including a key special teams player, have decided to not play this season over concerns they could be exposed to the coronavirus.
Following the team’s first practice of the season on Friday morning, Duke coach David Cutcliffe announced during a news conference that Ben Wyatt and Jacob Rimmer have opted out for the season.
Wyatt, a redshirt senior from Davidson, started the last three seasons as Duke’s long snapper on punts. Rimmer, a redshirt junior offensive tackle, had only seen action in three games during his career.
Cutcliffe said the players “made tough decisions.”
“They just weren’t comfortable playing in the environment of this virus and we certainly support them in every way,” Cutcliffe said. “They are two great young men.”
Both are remaining as Duke students, on track to graduate in the spring, and their scholarships will be honored.
On Wednesday, the NCAA’s Board of Directors passed new guidelines aimed at protecting athletes during the pandemic. One of them said schools must honor scholarships of players who opt out.
While many schools around the country allowed their athletes to return to campus for training in June, Duke didn’t allow any back until the football players arrived on July 12. Since then, its volleyball, women’s and men’s soccer, field hockey, men’s and women’s cross country and men’s and women’s basketball teams have all returned.
All were tested for coronavirus upon arrival on campus and quarantined until their results were determined. Those who were positive went into isolation.
On July 31, Duke announced 25 athletes had tested positive for COVID-19. All were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, the school said in a news release. Of them, 16 had already been released from isolation and cleared by doctors to resume activities while nine others remained in isolation.
Duke said it had conducted 700 tests of 309 athletes, coaches and staff at that time. The majority of the 25 people who tested positive had contracted the virus prior to arriving on campus as they tested positive at their initial screenings.
As an extra precaution to stop the coronavirus’ spread, Duke’s football players wore plastic face shields over their face masks on their helmets during their Friday practice.
“In workouts and everything leading up to this, we’ve been distanced and trying to follow guidelines,” Duke senior center Jack Wohlabaugh said after Friday’s practice. “Practice today felt pretty smooth. We had shields on our face masks and everything felt pretty normal besides that.”
As for replacing Wyatt as the punt team’s long snapper, Cutcliffe said John Taylor, the long snapper for field goal and extra-point kicks, is prepared to handle the punt duties as well.
“He knows our entire operation in punts,” Cutcliffe said. “He can direct traffic out there. He is talented. We are very, very fortunate. I think Ben, in fact, knew that, that he wasn’t just walking away and leaving us high and dry.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2020 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Coronavirus concerns sideline two Duke football players, including starting long snapper."